Bearwear shopping made easy via Web

Friday, November 8, 1996

ASUCLA:

Officials hope to reach global audience, add textbooks in
futureBy Frances Lee

Daily Bruin Contributor

The wonders of modern technology now make it possible to
purchase Bearwear with a mouse.

In a joint venture between Microsoft and the Associated Students
of UCLA (ASUCLA), the UCLA Store is now online, ready to reap the
potential rewards of a worldwide customer base.

On Oct. 30, Microsoft unveiled Merchant Server 1.0, the new
software which will help businesses establish sites to sell
merchandise over the World Wide Web. As part of Microsoft’s banner
site, the UCLA Store was among the first businesses to test the
system.

With the new system, ASUCLA hopes to "provide a new shopping
experience rather than replace the existing one," said Stephen San
Marchi, chief information officer for ASUCLA Information Services.
"We offer the store, the catalog (and now) the Web shopping
experience. Each one has its own place."

But, he added, "It’s difficult to tell what kind of volume (and
revenue) we’ll generate."

"We hope it will allow us to tap into a new market," said ASUCLA
Executive Director Patricia Eastman. "Selling over the Web is an
important strategic (move)."

Students can access the site to send an electronic UCLA postcard
to a friend, get a price list for computers, discover bargains and
specials, or purchase a sweatshirt.

Currently, Bearwear is the only product available for purchase.
Features such as Textbooks and BookZone are not yet fully
operational., but by the end of the year, students will be able to
search for required textbooks through the online store.

Someday, San Marchi said, students will be able to purchase
textbooks through the Web as well. ASUCLA hopes to duplicate the
success of the pilot program with the Anderson School of Management
earlier this year, in which business students purchased their
textbooks and computers online.

The online store works in much the same way as any retail
shopping experience, with one advantage ­ it can be done
hassle-free in the comfort of a customer’s home. Using a "shopping
cart" feature, customers select the items they want to buy and
collect their items in the electronic cart.

The price of the items, plus shipping and handling charges, is
totaled as products are added to the list. Once shopping is
complete, the buyer completes the order form and pays for it online
with a credit card.

"We’re very excited about future opportunities in the electronic
commerce area," San Marchi said. "We’re exploring (this venture)
cautiously, but we would not be servicing our customers if we
ignored (online shopping)."

Although it is geared mainly toward students, alumni and their
families, the worldwide nature of the Internet could allow the
store to reach a global customer base.

Kamran Mehdian, who spearheaded the project, agrees that it is
impossible to ignore electronic commerce, especially in light of
the fact that the much of the industry is moving towards it.

"Web site development is one of the new key areas of the new
retail environment," said Finance Committee Chair Levin Sy.

"It’s volatile," he added, but it’s also one of the newest and
biggest possibilities.

The project to develop a web site for the UCLA Store began in
late August, when Microsoft approached ASUCLA with the software.
Although the retail price of the software runs in the $18,500
range, as a banner site, ASUCLA received the software at a deep
discount, according to San Marchi. In addition, Microsoft provided
training and consultation which ASUCLA would not have been able to
afford.

Creating an online store was a natural extension of the current
trend for businesses to offer their services on the Internet.
Products as diverse as mutual funds, stock brokerage and life
insurance are already marketed on the Web, and the new software is
attempting to facilitate the development of retail shopping.

"What we’re doing right now is taking a first step toward these
services, and trying to figure out what’s doable and how we would
take the next step," said Terence Hsiao, director of business
development for ASUCLA.

"UCLA is really one of the very small number (of universities)
where you can shop online at all," he added.

According to Microsoft, Merchant Server could "jump-start the
nascent era of Internet commerce."

"Microsoft is committed to enabling all types of Internet
commerce; Merchant Server is the first deliverable in our strategy
to provide unprecedented support for doing business on the Web,"
Microsoft Chairman and CEO Bill Gates said in a statement.

The online UCLA Store is not without its glitches, but
improvements are being made daily, according to ASUCLA Information
Services.

The online address for the site is
http://www.uclastore.ucla.edu